Overview of Reverie “Reverie” is defined as a state of dreamy mediation or fanciful musing. Reverie is a metaphorical dream, the orchestra and audience the metaphorical dreamers. The music reflects and integrates this theme in many ways, explained briefly in the following descriptions. Especially note how form matches content. The piece begins with a section called “Falling Asleep.” It is meant to be reminiscent of the expe-rience of drifting slowly into the dream state, in this case wandering through an amorphous, un-certain, and highly textural musical landscape. The music begins with timpani and then strings enter on harmonics, producing an ethereal, de-tached sound, a musical realization of the beginning of a dream, moving gradually from the world of awake to that of asleep. When writing Reverie, I was inspired by the movie Inception, one of my favorite films and a fascinating exploration of the idea of dreaming. The hallmark of Inception is the dream within a dream. In “Falling Asleep,” I accomplished exactly that in musi-cal form. If you were to analyze the harmonic structure of this first section of the piece, it is an exact transcription of the overall harmonic structure of the entire piece. The short pause near the end of the introduction is a small version of the larger pause near the end of the piece. “Falling Asleep” is a microcosm of the work as a whole, a musical dream within a dream. The next several sections introduce the first theme, the bridge between themes, a variation on the first theme, a development of the first theme, and the second theme, in that order. There are many complex technical elements in each of these sections, but I will highlight one that is espe-cially interesting. The development of the first theme (noticeable by the rhythmic motive of the first theme played twice as fast) plays with the rhythm and tonality of the theme by passing the motive between nearly every instrument in the orchestra, but in different keys. The second half of the section uti-lizes a structure I developed that I call “parallel modulation.” The motive of the theme played in the development can be played in canon with itself in two different keys: this means that two in-struments each play the motive at the same time, overlapping, but at a delay. (“Row, Row, Row Your Boat” is a classic example of a canon, with a melody that overlaps.) In my construction, one of the instruments modulates to a new key, and then the other one follows suit at the given delay, also modulating and by the same degree. Thus, a parallel modulation is achieved in the context of a canonic structure: the two instruments can play the motive, overlapping, and changing keys, ad infinitum. It’s truly incredible that it works harmonically! After the second theme (very dramatic, darkly heroic, and at a slower tempo), the bridge between themes is played in variation (twice as fast). Then, the music descends into a rhythmic, driving crescendo, the climax of the piece. In the final moments of building drama, there is a special per-formance effect that I would like to highlight, something that could only be experienced live. The first violin section of an orchestra is organized by stand, with two violinists at each stand. The first five stands are on the outside of the section, directly to the left of the conductor and clearly visible to the audience. In Reverie, these five stands make strong and clear bowstrokes in succession. Normally, each stand of the section would play with every other stand, but in this case the first five play independently, in a staggered way. The first stand makes a strong downbow, then the second stand, then the third, and so on. The effect is a wave starting with the motion of the conductor and extending to the edges of the orchestra, at the fifth stand of the first violins. Then, it reflects and moves back toward the conductor, the fifth stand making a strong upbow, then the fourth stand, then the third, and so on. When the wave reaches the conductor again, the music suddenly breaks off into near silence, the only noise the pounding of the bass drum. This moment of the piece is called “Wake Up.” The choreography of the violins represents the physi-cal tossing and turning of a dreamer in the heat of an intense dream, and the pause represents waking from the metaphorical dream of the music. I deliberately use literary terminology and call the crescendo leading to the pause the climax of the music. I specifically modeled the piece on the dramatic arc of a narrative, with inciting events gradually building to the height of the drama at the climax (about 70-80% of the way through), and subsequently concluding through resolution. I was fascinated that traditional musical forms

often follow a similar structure to that of a story, so I chose to use the dramatic arc to organize the music. It is important to note that the break in the music at the climax is not filled with silence, but ra-ther with the pulsing of the bass drum. The rhythm the bass drum plays is a heartbeat rhythm, as if the metaphorical dreamer wakes from the dream to hear only his or her heart pounding. The heartbeat is a key element of Reverie, and it deserves more detailed description. There are two written tempos in the music, 65 and 97.5 beats per minute. I found a scientific study (cited in the score) that showed the average heart rate during sleep to be 65 beats per mi-nute, so I reflected this in the tempo. The highest heart rate during sleep was also very nearly the 97.5 beat per minute value that I use for more exciting and dramatic parts. Most tempos in mu-sic are written in the following way: (a given note) = (the given beats per minute value). I chose to deviate from this traditional notation to reflect the theme of a dreamscape and to subtly hint to the conductor and performers that there are tempos, but there are also heart rates. Therefore, I write both a tempo marking in the standard notation, and also a heart beat marking, but in the following way: (the heartbeat rhythm, equivalent mathematically to a given, traditional note val-ue) = (the given beats per minute value). The 97.5 value is especially interesting. For one, it is ex-tremely unusual to find a .5 value in a tempo—in fact, I can think of no other example. I didn’t choose to use the exact value for the highest heart rate during sleep from the study I found be-cause I could accomplish something very interesting by using 97.5, which is exactly 3/2 of 65. Because of this clean, mathematical relationship, I could write a tempo marking and a heart beat marking at different beats per minute values. Through syncopation, I could then (for example) play the heartbeat at a slower pace than the actual tempo of the piece, giving a deliberately diso-rienting sensation. After “Wake Up,” the music of “Falling Asleep” is repeated (with some changes) to reenter the dream. Then, the final section of the piece begins. I call this section “Triumph” and I classify it as a “canon fugato,” a term that I invented. I discussed the basic idea of a canon above--a melody that overlaps. “Fugato” means that the section has elements of a fugue, which is a musical form that overlays multiple melodies on each other, and in different keys and variations. The final sec-tion of Reverie has both canonic and fugue-like elements, and thus it is a canon fugato. To give you a sense of the complexity of this final section, here is a list of the elements, all played simulta-neously:

• theme one • theme one played in canon with itself • theme two overlaid on the canon of theme one • theme two played in canon with itself and overlaid on the canon of theme one • large theme one fragment • small theme one fragment • theme two twice as slow

The extremely complex interlocking nature of this section leads to an important relationship be-tween the beginning and ending of the piece. I discussed the beginning of Reverie above, the introduction section entitled “Falling Asleep.” There is another essential aspect of this section, namely that each individual part is written chromatically, meaning that the notes change by only small intervals each time. This is interest-ing first because these small changes internal to the parts produce overall diatonic change, or larger and more defined chord changes. What is crucial to note, however, is that the chromatic nature of the individual parts makes them completely meaningless as standalone entities. If played out of the context of the orchestra, no individual part would be even remotely intelligible, just as the events of a dream only make sense in the context of the dream: when awake, they seem like nonsense. Therefore, no individual part is a melody in “Falling Asleep”: each one is harmony. The final section of the piece has the many interlocking components I mentioned above and thus directly contrasts with the beginning of the music. By the end, every single part can stand alone as an individual entity. Perfectly opposite to the introduction section, every single instrument plays a melody and no instrument plays harmony: the harmony results from the overlapping of those melodies. The effect of such a construction is an overload of information. Because the brain cannot focus on so many melodies at once, it constantly perceives new aspects of the seemingly infinite sound.

Reverie Liam McCarty

Instrumentation:

Piccolo Flute 1 Flute 2 Oboe 1 Oboe 2 Clarinet 1 Clarinet 2 Bassoon 1 Bassoon 2 -- Horns 1 and 2 Horns 3 and 4 Trumpet 1 Trumpet 2 Trombone 1 Trombone 2 Bass Trombone Tuba -- Timpani Snare Drum Bass Drum Crash Cymbals Suspended Cymbal -- Violin 1 Violin 2 Viola Cello Bass

Note about the music:

Reverie is a metaphorical dream, the orchestra and audience the metaphorical dreamers. The apparent heartbeat that opens, closes, and is strewn throughout the music should reflect this theme and may inspire the orchestra to play as a united organism. Note the importance of the dramatic arc of the music, analogous to the dramatic arc of a narrative.

Note about tempi:

Tempi are written as heart beat rhythms equivalent to quarter or eighth notes (except in measure 19 where a courtesy standard tempo is written). Note that the two tempos of the piece, 65 and 97.5 beats per minute, form a 2:3 ratio that allows the heart beat to be slower than the tempo of the music in some cases, causing regular syncopation that gives a slightly disorienting sensation. Note that heart beats are written in some cases as groups of three—two eighth notes and one eighth rest, or triplets of two eighth notes and one eighth rest—and in other cases as groups of four—two sixteenth notes and one eight rest, or two thirty-second notes and one sixteenth rest. Both types of rhythm should be easily recognizable as heart beats. I found that recordings of real heartbeats are indistinguishable as either type of rhythm: some sound like groups of three, while others sound like groups of four. Therefore, I utilize both and follow a convention: groups of three are used in sections meant to sound more relaxed, while groups of four are used in sections meant to sound more frantic or excited.

133-38. 01 Dec. 2003. Web. 30 Aug. 2014. <http://www.jssm.org/vol2/n4/2/v2n4-2pdf.pdf>.Sleep: Implications for Monitoring Training Status." Journal of Sports Science and Medicine 2.4 (2003):

* average heart rate during sleep = 65 bpm: Waldeck, Miriam R., and Michael I. Lambert. "Heart Rate During

Liam McCartyDreamscape for OrchestraReverie

Copyright 2014

D=65

(Introduction)Falling Asleep

[Note: divisi where stems divide]

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Horns 3 and 4 in F

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Trombone 1

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111(Grand Pause)Wake Up

* note on next page

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(Canon Fugato)

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* slow to 65 bpm by beat one

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